Imagery is
visual symbol
A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...
ism, or
figurative language
The distinction between literal and figurative language exists in all natural languages; the phenomenon is studied within certain areas of language analysis, in particular stylistics, rhetoric, and semantics.
*Literal language is the usage of wor ...
that evokes a
mental image or other kinds of
sense
A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditio ...
impressions, especially in a
literary
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, ...
work, but also in other activities such as. Imagery in
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
can also be instrumental in conveying
tone.
Forms
There are five major types of sensory imagery, each corresponding to a sense, feeling, action, or reaction:
* ''Visual imagery'' pertains to graphics, visual scenes, pictures, or the sense of sight.
*''
Auditory imagery
Auditory imagery is a form of mental imagery that is used to organize and analyze sounds when there is no external auditory stimulus present. This form of imagery is broken up into a couple of auditory modalities such as verbal imagery or musical i ...
'' pertains to sounds, noises, music, or the sense of hearing. (This kind of imagery may come in the form of
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...
).
*''Olfactory imagery'' pertains to odors, aromas, scents, or the sense of smell.
*''Gustatory imagery'' pertains to flavors or the sense of taste.
*''Tactile imagery'' pertains to physical textures or the sense of touch.
Other types of imagery include:
*''Kinesthetic imagery'' pertains to movements.
*''Organic imagery / subjective imagery'', pertains to personal experiences of a character's body, including emotion and the senses of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and pain.
*''
Phenomenological'', pertains to the mental conception of an item as opposed to the physical version.
*''Color imagery'' is the ability to visualize a color in its absence.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
* Belyaev, Igor A. (2020)
"Human-sizedness as a principle of for literary-artistic image Proceedings of the Philological Readings (PhR 2019), EPSBS European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, London, 19–20 September 2019, pp. 560–567.
What is Imagery?: Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms
Style (fiction)
Narrative techniques
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Literary theory